The role of Germany in the illegal global pangolin trade

The illegal pangolin trade is of global concern and is placing all pangolin species under high levels of threat. Following a preliminary analysis of global pangolin seizures from 2010 to 2015, Germany emerged as a transit country, especially for pangolins being shipped from Africa to Asia. We analysed seizure data involving Germany from 2010 to 2018 to characterise Germany's role in international pangolin trafficking and the trafficking dynamics. The majority of shipments involving Germany came from West Africa, and predominantly from Nigeria. Scales were the most confiscated commodity and we found the postal services to be used as an important means of transport, with 90% of incidents being shipped via airmail packages. We highlight the need for further monitoring of, and research into, the international trade in Traditional Medicines. Such shipments are often overlooked, as they are particularly hard to detect, if derivatives of endangered wildlife are not clearly identified on the ingredient list of such medicines. We further found a large discrepancy between seizures on administrative record and seizures as reported by the media. Recognising these country-specific biases in media reporting of wildlife seizures may improve analyses of wildlife seizures in the future.